day twenty four

July 3rd

Richardson Grove State Park to MacKerricher State Park

58 miles

Out of bed around 6AM.  Made coffee, ham and cheese bagels for breakfast.  Got going quickly to get an early start for what should be a long day.

Hit the road around 8:30AM.  Did a little climbing to on the way to the town of Leggett, at the bottom of the hill.  Already extremely hot.  Didn't drink enough water yesterday, so extra worried about having enough today.  No services for 28 miles after Leggett.  Bought an extra water in town, hoping 4 bottles is enough.  Met an older German guy at the store who started riding in New York, and is headed for San Francisco.  

Took off on HWY 1 up the hill.  Passed 3 Czechs, who were riding from Seattle to San Francisco.  All 3 had custom jerseys on with maps on the back.  All 3 of them passed me later when I stopped for a break.  Not one of them stopped a single time from what I saw.  One of them had to be in his 60's, very impressive.

Getting hotter.  Long, arduous climb to the top.  Traffic moderate.  Reached the top and started down.  Waited for Chip and Mark about halfway down the hill.  Had a few bagels with PB.

Made our way down.  Nice, long descent.  One more decent sized hill to go.  Ended up being 200' higher than our maps showed, according to the maps the Czechs had.  Big motivation killer.

Finally at the coast again, nice breeze felt great.  Felt at least 20 degrees cooler.  Traffic heavier.  Lots of smaller climbs but nothing too major.  Ended up having just enough water.  Stopped in Westport hoping to find a restaurant for lunch.  Found a deli, had chicken avocado sandwiches.  Refilled water bottles.

Rode last 13 miles to Cleone along HWY 1, steep and winding with shoulders on/off and tons of traffic (4th of July weekend).

Bought groceries at a store in Cleone, arrived at MacKerricher State Park and set up camp.  Mark made dinner, spaghetti with hamburger.  Very good and filling.  Skittles for dessert, quickly becoming my 'must have'.  I've noticed most bikers have their own thing they 'need' to have.  Mark goes gaga over Sobe drinks.  Chip likes the M&M's.

Another hilly day tomorrow.  Chip's book calls the next stretch 'strenuous' so it looks like we'll keep it around 40 miles.  Extremely exhausted tonight.

elevation map of Leggett Hill

right outside Leggett, where HWY 1 starts

finally back on the coast

looking south

looking north, just outside Westport